B-Berry and I Look Back Read Online Free PDF Page A

something else. Jonah’s words remembered the incident. I was present when a very famous big shot made his first appearance in court. I knew him quite well. He was called to the Bar before me – I was still a solicitor’s pupil which was how I came to be at Bow Street when first he got to his feet. You see, I was with Muskett, who was appearing, as usual, for the prosecution; and Wilson, as I will call him, had been briefed for the defence. Quite frankly, he shouldn’t have been briefed, for he was right out of his depth. But he’d been chucked into the water and told to swim. I think Sir Albert de Rutzen was on the Bench. He was, of course, lucky there. But I really believe he cut as bad a figure as I did – if that is possible. I was terribly sorry for him, but, of course, I couldn’t help. And Muskett was so gentle – so very sympathetic. He never showed him up, as some would have done. As best he could, he covered him. But his flounderings made me writhe. I really never was so sorry for anyone. Happily the case was soon over. How the client felt about it, I have no idea. But it was terribly good for Wilson, for that is the way to get on – to be just chucked into the water and told to swim. And his rise was very rapid. He went to the war all right and put up a first rate show, and then he came back to the Bar and became a famous man, as he richly deserved.”
    “And you actually witnessed the very first struggles he made?”
    I nodded.
    “I did, indeed.”
    “Did they all begin like that? I mean, is that your belief?”
    “I’ve no idea. I imagine some of them did. But I can’t see the late Lord Birkenhead getting stage fright.”
    “And now let’s have your confession.”
    “I’m not at all proud of it,” I said, “and I think I’d better have some more port.”
    “Jumping powder,” said Berry, filling my glass.
    “Darling,” said Daphne, “no end of people have done it.”
    “I know,” said I. “But they have the sense to keep it under their hats. Never mind. Here we go.”
    “There was some sort of Show or Exhibition somewhere in Kent. It went on for a fortnight, I think, and a lot of tradesmen had stalls. The Show was closed every evening, as a matter of course: but the tradesmen could hardly be expected to remove their wares every evening and bring them all back the next day. Yet, their stalls couldn’t be locked. And so they engaged a night-watchman, to discourage thieves. For all that, night after night, goods disappeared.
    “No one could understand this – the night-watchman least of all. The latter inclined to the view that the thief attended the show and then remained behind when the public left. ‘An’ then he can watch me, you see, and seize his chance.’
    “One stall-holder felt very sore, for his stall had been visited twice by the thief or thieves. And he said, ‘I’ll catch the —. I’ll lie in wait myself.’ And so he did. Two nights running the night-watchman let him in about half past nine, and he watched right through the night. But the thief never came. ‘Oh, I give up,’ he said. ‘If you ask me,’ said the night-watchman, ‘you’ve frightened the — off.’ ‘Let’s hope so,’ said the tradesman. ‘I can’t go on like this.’ But he could and did. On the third night he never came in, because he had never gone out. The night-watchman didn’t know this…
    “And so it came to pass that he caught the night-watchman red-handed with three of his precious exhibits under his arm.
    “When he seized his man, the latter begged for mercy and put the goods back on the shelf. ‘Let me go,’ he begged, ‘for the sake of my wife and children.’ ‘You dirty dog,’ said the other, ‘you’re coming straight to the station here and now.’
    “The night-watchman was accordingly charged and cast into jail. At the police-court he pleaded not guilty and reserved his defence: and so he was committed for trial, and I was presently briefed on his